Here are 3 ideas to make your Halloween party spooky fun
I miss the fall festivals, craft shows and school carnivals, all more casualties of COVID-19.
A friend and her husband normally have a pumpkin patch, complete with pumpkin picking, hayrides, animal petting and feeding. Due to strict regulations, they will have the pumpkin picking and a barbecue lunch with folks sitting 6-feet apart, but no hayrides because social distancing is not feasible on a hay wagon.
Some churches are doing trunk-or-treats for the youngsters, but few parents I have talked with are doing trick-or-treating.
As an alternative, parents or grandparents can throw a spooky family meal for the kids with such treats as hot dog mummies, mini-Martian burgers or even a slithering snake sub. Kids love to help prepare food, so let them. They will probably eat better knowing they got to help.
For a bit of old-fashioned fun, pop the corn and stir up the gooey candy syrup for popcorn balls. These treats can be dipped halfway in melted chocolate or sprinkled with candy coated chocolate pieces or orange and black sprinkles.
Back-in-the-day, my great-grandmother would make batches of plastic-wrapped popcorn balls to trick-or-treaters. Another neighbor had us kids bobbing for apples, but that isn’t done today. Rightly so, parents, grandparents and guardians are frightened that something poisonous or sharp objects might be in the apples or popcorn balls.
My granddaughter and her mom will help prepare some treats for us. We may even do candied apples, which are our favorites.
Taste of Home magazine has just released its “Halloween” cookbook. It is full-color photos that accompany the recipes in 207 pages for $12.99 and available from Taste of Home, Amazon or Barnes & Noble Booksellers.
Some of the 110 recipes are not just for kids. There are champagne blood shots and mock sangria and, of course, magic potion punch for the younger set. This adult likes the mummy wrapped brie appetizer, but then I have never met a brie I did not like.
Let’s face it: 2020 has been a crazy year; but let’s give the kids a good, safe time. Enjoy these recipes.
Mini-martian burgers
1 1/4 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups frozen seasoned curly fries
4 slices American cheese, halved
8 Hawaiian sweet rolls, split
1/4 cup pimiento-stuffed olives, drained
Ketchup
Shape ground beef into 8 small patties; sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, cook burgers over medium heat until a thermometer reads 160 degrees, 3-4 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, bake curly fries according to package directions. When cool enough to handle, cut fries in half.
Add a half slice of cheese to each burger; cook until slightly melted, about 1 minute. Place burgers on rolls. Using toothpicks, attach curly fries to rolls to look like antennae and arms, and attach olives to look like eyes. Serve with ketchup. – From Taste of Home “Halloween”
Hot dog mummies with honey mustard dip
1 tube (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
20 miniature hot dogs or sausages
1 large egg
2 teaspoons water
Dijon mustard
Dip:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Dash hot pepper sauce
Separate crescent roll dough into 2 rectangles; seal the seams and perforations. Cut each rectangle horizontally into 10 strips. Wrap one strip around each hot dog.
Place 1-inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. In a bowl, whisk egg and water; brush over tops. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Using mustard, add the eyes. In a small bowl, combine dip ingredients; serve with the mummies. – From Taste of Home “Halloween”
Halloween popcorn balls
18-20 cups popped popcorn
1 tablespoon butter, softened (plus extra for hands)
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup dark corn syrup, like Karo
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (12-ounce) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
Candy toppings or sprinkles
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put popcorn in a large aluminum roasting pan and place in the oven to warm.
Butter sides of heavy saucepan with 1 tablespoon butter. Then add sugar, water, corn syrup, vinegar and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Clip a candy thermometer to the pan and reduce heat to medium. Boil at a steady rate, stirring occasionally, until thermometer reaches 250 degrees.
Remove thermometer and remove pan from heat. Stir in vanilla. Remove popcorn from oven. Quickly pour syrup over popcorn. Stir gently with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to coat popcorn. Let cool a few minutes until popcorn can be handled.
Working in batches, add popcorn to a mixing bowl and mix in candy and sprinkles. Butter hands and quickly shape popcorn into 3-inch balls, pressing gently to hold together. Place on waxed paper.
Melt chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring at 20-second intervals until smooth. Dip popcorn balls halfway into the melted chocolate. Sprinkle chocolate with chopped candy or sprinkles. Cool on waxed paper. – From https://parade.com/
Andrea Yeager can be reached at ayeager51@cableone.net/ and Cooks Exchange, 205 DeBuys Road, Biloxi, MS 39535-4567.